The Graduate

Since I'm just starting uni and Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has just left, I already felt an abstract sense of duality with The Graduate (1967) from its quiet opening.

Everyone should see this film. Firstly, because it's hilarious. The screenplay, direction (Mike Nichols), and acting here are really second to none, Hoffman makes Ben so cringe-inspiringly awkward in almost every scenario he faces. Inspired directly by the Charles Webb novel of the same name, the dialogue itself is fast, witty and unexpected. The resulting form of the film is comedic yet realistic, laughing at life but with a sense of self consciousness and intelligence.

Ben's character, played flawlessly by an (almost oxymoronic) youthful Hoffman, is the indelible anti-hero who reminded me of directionless Holden Caulfield from J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Ben Braddock has, at the risk of stating the obvious, just graduated from university, with seemingly excellent prospects, and accompanied with a mountain of expectation from his well-to-do parents. However our protagonist seems to have lost all his drive and has no idea what to do with himself. We come across Ben in this indecisive state when he is preyed on by his parent's friend and apparent cougar Mrs Robinson. The narrative becomes even more conflicted when Mrs Robinson's daughter Elaine shows up and suddenly Ben decides he wants to marry her.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs Robinson?"

Set and released in the late 60s, The Graduate was one of a number highly influential pictures released in this time period, which would dramatically change the concept and subject of film for future audiences. This film reflects upon the upheaval of the swinging sixties, satirizing the upper middle classes as corrupt and ignorant  but also embodying the sense of experimentation and psychedelia that is of course associated with its time.

Graduate's narrative plays with a number of binary oppositions, most potently between youth and age, innocence and experience. This is embodied perfectly by Elaine Robinson and her mother Mrs Robinson, and conflicted by Ben's somewhat incestuous relationship with both. It has been argued that this stark generational juxtaposition represents the collapse of the old Hollywood studio system and its subsequent metamorphosis into a more youthful system, an aforementioned revolution which changed Western cinema indelibly.

Cinematography here elevates Graduate to a higher platform, with the pool scenes accentuating Ben's listlessness and disorientation with corporate life as he lazes around on a lilo. In one of the opening scenes Ben is shot close up against his fish tank, appearing submerged amidst the fish. These water references throughout the film are perhaps connotative of the protagonist's chaotic and isolated mindset throughout. Moreover the garish burst of 60s colour, incepted from the first meeting with devilish Mrs Robinson, is expressive of Ben's submersion into a more radical, dangerous way of life. Framing throughout the film is experimental and quirky, shots are pushing boundaries constantly, such as a shot from inbetween Mrs Robinson's legs. What this adds to the look of the piece is a dynamic aesthetic, maintaining the audience's interest but also applying a subjective and suggestive character to the camera which often results in humour.

Finally, what I feel wraps this work up, is of course the chilling soundtrack produced by Simon & Garfunkel. You'll have no doubt heard the unintentionally iconic 'Mrs Robinson', referring to the film's character of the same name, but it is 'The Sound of Silence' with its bittersweet, ethereal acoustics which is the film's motif and masterpiece.

The Graduate closes on this shot, at once absurdly humorous and bleak, which I feel completely encapsulates the randomness, uncertainty and turbulence of both the film and its contemporaries.